Computex 2018 is your sneak peek into the future of PC tech

Taipei's home to the long-running Computex trade show, one of Asia's largest tech shows, and as always, the CNET crew will be on the ground next week to bring you the latest news it has to offer.

With the timing for this year's Computex clashing directly with Apple'sWorld Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Jose, it might seem like bad luck for the Taiwanese trade show, but Computex will probably still bring some big surprises.

As always, the show is the perfect stomping ground for homegrown brand Asus, and based on previous years, you'll expect the company to whip out something flashy and mind-bogglingly cool. Computex has always ridden on Asus' colorful event launches, and this year should be no different.

If you're a laptop geek, besides Asus, the other big names include Acer, AMD, Dell, Intel, Gigabyte and Nvidia, who will of course have plenty up their sleeves as well.

Last year, we saw Nvidia announce its Max-Q design architecture for super-slim gaming laptops, and it's a good bet there will be more such laptops to make any power gamer wave their cash-filled fists in the air this year.

As always, expect to see more virtual reality and augmented reality stuff from hardware makers, and there should be plenty of new gadgets from hardware startups from all over the world at Computex's startup space.

Artificial intelligence has been a buzzword now for the early half of this year, and Computex will likely see this trend expand even further. Robots could make their presences felt at the show, and heck, we may even see a new version of the adorable Asus Zenbo robot, given that it's been two years since the first one.

E-sports made a venture into Computex last year with the Zotac Cup Masters, and this year is no different, well, slightly different -- instead of Dota 2, it's now Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and like last year, will be held on the show floor itself. This does mean there won't be much of a buzz from a live audience, but you'll be able to catch the action online.

The CNET team will be at Computex next week to bring you the latest and greatest as it happens, so you'll definitely want to keep an eye on our Computex 2018 page for all the juicy details.